Roof is new school's crowning glory

The large roof of the secondary school in Gunters Lane has been lifted and secured into place, meaning that the exterior of the 38million project is now almost complete.

Councillor Keith Glazier, East Sussex County Council's lead member for children's and adults' services, said: "This is a major and significant milestone in this project, and I delighted that the vision we have developed for this fantastic new building is now much more plain for everyone to see."

He said that while the bad winter weather had hampered construction work and led to delays, the expected completion date for building work was still autumn this year.

Cllr Glazier said: "This has always been an exciting project because of the innovative design and our vision to create a truly 21st Century learning environment, but now that much of the exterior building is in place, it's easy to see what an iconic building this will be.

"It will be a fantastic new facility not just for students in the town but for the whole community."

Mike Conn, principal of Bexhill High School, said: "The building is up and it's now very much a reality.

"It's amazing and the whole process seems to be going so quickly. We've kept pupils very involved at every stage of this project and everyone is really excited."

Rhiannon Francis is one of the students who has visited the new school site and posted her impression of it on the school's website.

She said: "It was beyond what I had imagined. As soon as you walked into it, it took my breath away it was so big. It was hard to think that such a big school could fit in a small space like that."

Like many pupils, Amber Jagot was also impressed with the design of the new building.

She said: "It was really different to what I thought it would be like. When it is finished, it will have so many new facilities that will be great for our learning and make school more exciting, like a theatre/cinema room."

The bulk of the funding is coming from the government's Building Schools for the Future programme but 4million is being invested from the council's own funds.

Construction will now concentrate on completing exterior cladding work and the interior spaces.

Work has also begun with ICT providers to design the ICT infrastructure that will be a key feature.